Perry County TN Arts

Harp. What a fascinatingly elusive instrument. This word brings to mind heavenly music, angelic choirs, stories of shepherd-boys and kings, entertainment for French royalty, and itinerant Welsh bards traveling from castle to castle. Sometimes it is seen in an orchestra, heard briefly above the collective sound of all the other instruments. Sometimes it is heard at a wedding or some other special occasion, carefully placed so as to contribute to the surroundings with its graceful and ornate presence. But rarely is one able to gain a closer look at the instrument, or to begin to understand the complexity of the harp in its modern form and know how it came into being.

The harp, as we know it, is far removed from the one which David played to King Saul, yet the basic concept of plucked strings remains the same. It was in Ireland that the harp gained its triangular “harp” shape and structure, with a curved neck, hollow soundbox and column. The Irish harp was small enough to carry and hold on one's lap to play, sturdily built, beautiful in its simplicity, and an integral part of the Irish culture. During the Middle Ages, this harp was introduced to Western Europe where it was modified somewhat, becoming taller, more slender, with a more light-weight structure, so that it was well-suited to the modally based ensemble music of the Medieval period and Renaissance.

With the ushering in of the Baroque era, composers such as Buxtehude, Correlli, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and many others, established a new type of music which included much more “chromaticism”. This word, chromatic, literally means “colored”, and is a delightful name for the additional notes being used to add color to the music. However, these chromatic notes were not a part of the scale of harp strings, and so it was difficult to play this new music on the harp.

Many people experimented, trying to find a way to solve the problem of the lack of chromatic notes on the harp. Some added extra rows of strings. Musicians on the continent quickly became discouraged with this idea though, claiming that it was impossible to master such a complicated instrument. Incidentally, this “triple-strung” harp was exported to Wales near the end of the 17th century, where it became the instrument of choice and has become so ingrained in Welsh culture that, even though it was not invented there, it is universally known as the 'Welsh triple harp'. That didn't help the Europeans though.

The next attempt to add chromaticism came from the Austrian Tyrol around 1685, and was the addition of hooks attached to the neck of the harp, which the harpist could turn to shorten the string, thus giving a different pitch. This worked—to a certain extent. But every time the harpist needed one of those notes, he had to reach up and turn the hook. By 1720 these hooks had been connected with levers operated by the feet, thus freeing the players hands. This became known as the single-action pedal harp and quickly spread throughout western Europe, becoming especially popular in France. This was the type of harp that Marie Antoinette played, as well as being the harp for which Mozart wrote his Concerto for flute and harp. Although the pedals allowed the player to change the pitch of the notes with ease, the harp was still limited as to the number of keys in which it could play, and was not nearly as versatile as, say, a piano or violin. Besides that, its tone was so gentle that it could not be heard well when combined with large groups of other instruments. These were the next obstacles to be overcome.

Not until 1810 were any more great changes made to the instrument, though the years leading up to this point were filled with experimentation. This was the year in which the double-action harp was invented. Double-action is a fairly foreign-sounding term to most people, but to harpists it speaks volumes. To harpists it means the ability to play in any key with as much or more ease than a pianist; it means pedal shoes; it means hundreds of hours spent practicing the exact way to move each pedal to the right place; it means battling with music written by non-harpists who haven't the faintest idea what is involved with playing the instrument; it means an instrument that stands taller than, and sometimes weighs more than, the harpist herself; in short, it means the modern pedal harp. This was the invention that took the harp from being a salon instrument which fashionable young ladies played to accompany fashionable young gentlemen on the flute, to being an instrument which ranks among the most physically demanding of all modern instruments to master. It is also the invention which brought the harp up to par with other modern instruments such as the piano, violin, cello, trumpet, and clarinet, enabling composers to write harp music of the same caliber as that which is written for other instruments, as well as making the harp a standard part of the orchestra.

Now a little explanation is necessary. What exactly is a double-action? As simply as possible, it is this: Two rows of discs (what used to be hooks,) are fastened to the neck. At the back of the harp are the seven pedals. Each pedal has three different positions, and is connected to rods which go from the bass, up through the center of the hollowed-out column, to the front of the neck. Here they attach to the 'action', which is that part of the mechanism inside the metal plates of the neck. This action controls the discs. When a pedal is moved at the bottom of the harp, a disc moves at the top of the harp, shortening or lengthening the string as needed. Since there are seven pedals, each one operates a certain note of the scale in octaves. For example: the C pedal moves, and every single C on the harp changes pitch at exactly the same time. Since each pedal has three positions, each note can be set to play as sharp, flat, or natural.

Yes, it's complicated. If you didn't understand the last paragraph, that is perfectly alright. There are over 1000 moving parts in a modern harp, and 4,400 pounds of pressure on the soundboard. It has grown from a small folk instrument, to standing over six feet tall and weighing nearly 100 pounds. The music written for this instrument is complex and beautiful. There is a whole spectrum of styles and moods that can be portrayed on the harp—from grand and powerful, to playful and joking, to serene and gentle.

If you would like to get a closer look at a harp and hear some of the music written for it, mark November 1 on your calendar. Amy Shafer will be giving a harp recital at New Life Christian Church at 3:00pm. The music performed will cover over 200 years of harp history, from Handel's Concerto in Bb,written for a Welsh triple harp in the Baroque era, to Nino Rota's Sarabanda e Toccata, written at the end of World War II by the same composer who wrote the music for The Godfather, as well as nearly all the soundtracks for Fellini's films. This is the first in a series of recitals sponsored by the Perry County Arts.